This invention relates to a tick repellant belt to be worn about the waist of an outdoorsman to ward off bloodsucking arachnids commonly called ticks.
Ticks 10, as shown in FIG. 1, typically have a head 12, front legs 14 and back legs 16. They can be any of numerous arachnids that constitute the acarine super family Iixodoida and are much larger than closely related mites. Ticks are blood suckers which attach themselves to warm blooded vertebrate to feed. Ticks are chiefly important as vectors or carriers of various infectious diseases of man and lower animals. Of serious concern are ticks, particularly the deer tick, which are known to carry a particularly debilitating disease commonly known as a Lyme Disease.
Consequently, hunters and outdoorsman must be particularly concerned that they do not permit ticks that are questing a host to become attached to their body. Although several repellants and insecticides may be useful in discouraging ticks from attaching themselves to the outdoorsman, such chemicals are undesirous to many people and may readily be sensed by various wildlife which is undesirable by hunters.
Referring to FIG. 2, many outdoorsman 20 and hunters have attempted to prevent ticks from attaching themselves to the human body by way of wearing special clothing. Typical clothing worn by the outdoorsman 20 includes heavy boots or shoes 22 with pants 24 that have tightly closed cuffs 26 either by means of tucking the cuffs 26 within the shoes 22 or wearing securing straps about the cuffs 26. At the top of the pants 24, when coveralls are not worn, is typically a waistband 28 wherein the outdoorsman's shirt or jacket 30 is tucked in.
It is known that ticks attach themselves to a host by brushing up against ground vegetation where a tick may be located. Once the tick has attached itself to a host it generally moves upwardly. This is because the tick cannot attach itself to the human body through heavy articles of clothing. Consequently, the tick moves up from the boots or shoes 22 and cuffs 26, which are tightly closed and tucked into boots 22, and approach the waistband 28. At the waistband 18A tick 10 may attempt to get between the pants 24 and shirt 30 to find a body location where it may imbed its head 12 and begin sucking blood. In the case of coveralls, the tick may climb to the front opening, neck or head area of the outdoorsman.
There is a need for a tick repellant belt which may be worn about an outdoorsman's waist which will ward off bloodsucking arachnids who climb upwardly on an outdoorsman's pants.